When you think about visiting Tanzania, most people will probably think first-and-foremost about the country’s incredible wildlife and going on safari.  One might also think about the amazing culture of the Masaai tribes that live on the grasslands of the country.  What will almost assuredly not be on the top of most people’s minds is coffee and coffee tours.

It’s not that the continent of Africa isn’t known for great coffee.  On the contrary, countries like Ethiopia have long produced some of this world’s most amazing coffee.  However, Tanzania has traditionally not been at or near the top of the list of the best coffee producing countries in the world.  A new cooperative in the Arusha area has quickly injected Tanzania into those discussions.

Background

Amazingly, Kahawa Fair Trade Coffee in Tanzania began with one man’s dream.  The country of Tanzania was going thru a transition period.  After decades under communist rule, the country’s economy was beginning to open and people were beginning to look for new entrepreneurial opportunities.  After visiting nearby Ethiopia and seeing how successful farmers in that country had become in selling their world-class coffee, he decided to start growing Ethiopian coffee back home in Tanzania.

Beginning in 2004, he and his wife started growing coffee and selling it back in Norway.  It didn’t take long for the coffee to become a hit and the demand to start growing.  Seeing an opportunity, they decided to offer other farmers the opportunity to use some of the lands they owned to grow their own coffee.  Out of this, the Kahawa Fair Trade Coffee Cooperative was born.

Today, Kahawa buys their coffee directly from the farmers who grow it in the Nkoaranga Village area, which is in the shadows of Mount Meru in the Arusha, Tanzania area.  Everything from growing the crops and roasting the beans is done locally.  It is a community-based company that produces some of the best coffee that is sold in Eastern Africa.

How to Get There

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Kahawa Fair Trade Coffee is located in the Nkoaranga Village, which is located just East of the city of Arusha.  It is very close to Kilimanjaro International Airport, which is where most people who are flying into Tanzania to go on safari in the Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Crater, and Tanzania’s other amazing national parks fly into.  This makes it a really convenient tour to take either before or after your safari adventures.

What the Tour Includes

The Kahawa Fair Trade Coffee Tour is an amazing cultural experience.  Not only will you get to see the process by which coffee is grown, harvested, roasted, and sold, but you will get to see the community that the business supports and learn about how it really is a community-based business.  Some of the other sites you will get to see along the way include the following:

• The oldest church in the Mount Meru area.
• Get to visit a primary and secondary school.
• Walk thru some of the local banana, maize, and bean farms in the area.

After your tour, you are welcomed to a home cooked meal for lunch that includes some absolutely fantastic local cuisine.  This includes chapatti, ugali, roasted banana, rice, spinach, salad, goat meat, and fresh fruit.  From there, you will get to visit the roasting factory to taste some of the locally grown coffee and purchase some to take home if you would like.

Photo Gallery

Taking the Kahawa Fair Trade Coffee Tour was one of the most memorable experiences that we had in Tanzania.  It was an amazing cultural experience that we will never forget.  Below is a gallery of just some of the pictures that I was able to take while on the tour.

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